Sunday Funday: Labor Day Edition

A song with a deep message (3:40)

I would love to share some true pearls of wisdom on this weekend to celebrate labor, but let’s face it, anyone below the station of multi-multi-millionaire in this society is in some way getting screwed by this administration. Look for this only to pick up in its speed and intensity as the FIWH (Felon In the White House) moves to ending our democracy and installing some form of fascism.

Show of hands – Who ever thought they would live to see our major cities invaded by the federal government under the cover of an “emergency” that does not in any way exist. And who would have ever thought that representatives from the once level headed state of Iowa would cheer it on? Look out Iowa City “Daddy” (the FIWH) is coming and our congress members say it is OK.

Maybe some questions on labor; maybe some questions on school shootings. Gawd that is heart-breaking.

A) Representatives Massey and Rho Khanna will be bringing victims of who to testify before congress next week?

B) If this happens what major emergency will the FIWH create as a diversion?

C) What the hell has the FIWH been doing in our name in Greenland that Denmark had to call our ambassador on the carpet?

D) Hey, what are those troops, called in because of an “emergency,” doing in DC these days?

E) What two major civil rights related events occurred on August 28th – one in 1955 and one in 1963?

F) Although not really the first mass school shooting, the rifle sniper in a tower in 1961 at what state university is often thought to have instigated the current era of school shootings?

G) The CDC – one of the world’s premiere disease fighting agencies – has certainly been in an uproar for several weeks. When was the CDC established?

H) Leaders of the Democratic Party have called for the resignation of what cabinet member whose department oversees the CDC?

I) The announcement “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.” referred to whose engagement?

J) Just in but not yet from the horse’s mouth. What major Iowa politician has decided to forego re-election next year?

K) With all the mess at the CDC, it is a great time to learn that a flesh eating what has made its way into the US?

L) What major US city was brought to a standstill by a haboob last week?

M) The FIWH lost big in the US Court of Appeals Friday on what issue?

N) The FIWH is basing his plan to invade US cities with federal troops on an emergency. What is the emergency he claims gives him this power?

O) The intellectual Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins claimed the FIWH saved what during the last cabinet praise-a-thon?

P) What European leader called the FIWH a “Russian asset” in a speech Thursday?

Q) What year did Labor Day become a holiday in the US?

R) Who is Susan Monarez?

S) This again? The FIWH issued an EO (Executive Order) requiring the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute people who burn what?

T) Democrat Caitlin Drey won a surprisingly lopsided election in what state Tuesday?

When your house is on fire, the most important consideration is that your firefighters are here legally. You don’t want anybody illegally fighting fires.  After you have determined their papers are in order, then you can go about getting your family to safety. – Rep. Jack Kimble. {ed. note: sarcasm for the humor impaired}

Answers:

A) Epstein – as much as the FIWH tries to cover up this scandal some in congress won’t let him

B) The US just sent 7 warships to the coast of Venezuela last week – Diversion? Possibly

C) The US has personnel in Greenland trying to influence Greenlanders to ask to join the US

D) Picking up trash

E) The murder of Emmett Till and the March on Washington (that date chosen to commemorate Till’s death)

F) the U of Texas in Austin

G) 1946

H) RFK, jr.

I) Taylor Swift and some football player – er Travis Kelce

J) Joni Ernst. Don’t let the door …..

K) New World screwworm

L) Phoenix. A haboob is a huge sandstorm

M) tariffs. The court said the FIWH did not have emergency powers to implement such tariffs – headed to the SCOTUS

N) Crime in the cities. Such crime has been diminishing for years and troops are more likely to instigate a reaction.

O) college football – I have no idea what she meant

P) Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

Q) 1894

R) She was the head of the CDC who was illegally fired by the FIWH because she refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.

S) The American flag. I suggest burning ’TRUMP’ flags instead.

T) IOWA! Funny that Drey’s victory should closely precede Ernst’s withdrawal. Keep it up, Iowa!

The Republican Party is the greatest friend a mass shooter could have.

~John Pavlovitz

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It’s The GUNS!

The Much Misunderstood Second Amendment (13 minutes):

Heather Cox Richardson

Guy Zapoleon

Posted on Facebook  By Heather Cox Richardson

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘀,

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮.

by John Pavlovitz

Sadly, this sentence is evergreen at this point, with only the geography and the death toll changing.

And before you run down some ridiculous road of misdirection and Fox News fiction: yes, it’s the damn guns.

Of course, it’s the guns.

You’re insulting people’s intelligence when you claim that it isn’t; attempting to gaslight us all into imagining we’re not seeing what we’re seeing, trying to fool us into believing that our faculties are not fully intact, that our minds are somehow clouded, not accurately assessing the reality in front of us.

But we see it all clearly.

And we see you clearly, too.

As you rush to throw blame everywhere else for the daily massacres we’re witnessing in America except on guns, you’re exposing yourselves, you’re tipping your hand, you’re showing us who you are.

You’re telling us you know it’s the guns, by going to such ridiculous lengths to prove that it isn’t the guns; by flatly refusing to even consider it, by taking nonsensical tangents about immigration and video games and mental illness and the Internet and rainbow flags.

You protest too much.

Rational, reasonable people can admit that there are all sorts of factors contributing to the United States’ stratospheric gun homicide rate.

We know that depression matters, that addiction matters, that a culture of violence does, that toxic misogyny does, that institutional racism does, that incendiary politicians do, that personal upbringing does, that extremist religion does. And, we believe in addressing all of these areas, both personally, collectively, and legislatively where possible.

But we damn well know that the guns matter, because the guns are the preferred method of choice when unwell, unstable, hateful, angry people want to murder many human beings quickly. 

When it comes to easily-accessible instruments of rapid carnage, it is guns by an American, God and Country mile.

And it’s not just guns, but everything around them: your glorification of guns, the grocery magazine shelf real estate they occupy, the invasive and deep-pocketed gun lobby that has your ear, the NRA that you’ve permanently in bed with, the availability of assault weapons, the general proliferation of handguns—but yeah, it’s the guns.

We understand that entertaining these realities is problematic for you because it will do something to you that we all have a hard time with: it will show you your culpability. It will be a mirror to your policies and your President and your prejudices. It will present you with choices at the polls and changes in your heart and alterations in your allegiances that you may not want to make.

To face the reality of our gun problem, you’ll have to admit that you are the problem, too.

You’ll be forced to connect the dots between

guns and your theology,

guns and your nationalism,

guns and your Islamophobia,

guns and your white supremacy,

guns and your resentment of foreigners,

guns and your President’s irresponsible rhetoric,

guns and the people who so often shoot strangers in shopping malls and schools and churches and concerts, because you’ve helped make guns easier to get than a house or a driver’s license,

and between guns—and your bizarre love for them.

Every nation in the world has mental illness and racism and nationalism, but they aren’t seeing the bloodshed we’re seeing, and we can’t ignore that we have more guns per capita than anywhere else, and that this isn’t immaterial in the rising body count here.

25 years ago, we had a single shoe bomber on a plane, who didn’t kill a single human being, and we completely altered airport screening for the country. We changed protocols. We “inconvenienced” millions and millions of people, and you were willing to abide that because the how of murder matters, and you know it.

And there is no greater how in the bloody mess we are seeing in our schools and streets and neighborhoods and churches, than the weapons you tirelessly advocate for and pump your chest over.

Yeah, Republicans, it’s the damn guns.

You can deny it and hide from it and refuse to acknowledge it and try and distract from it, but that’s simply the truth.

And if you won’t admit this and you will not commit to doing anything about it, then yeah, it’s you too.

We have a brutal, sickening, heartbreaking gun problem in America—and you’re it.

Don’t shoot the messenger…

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Back to me –

Do not let them distract you any more. If you love children, vote the damn Republicans out! Nothing else will do!

Hey, Bobby Kennedy! Guns are killing a lot more kids than vaccines. Why don’t you outlaw guns??!

The Gun Violence archive will give you an idea of how many gun deaths are being recorded in the US. Remember that the US is the only country where the leading cause of death for children is guns. Are we going to accept this?

4 minutes: Some language

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Protests In Iowa On Labor Day Monday

Found this Wednesday night. Not sure if this is the most current listing of events. Check here for the most recent.  

Trump’s invasion of America’s cities is a very scary ramping up toward fascism. Let’s let the MAGAs know this is not acceptable. Remember all six of Iowa’s congressional delegation spoke in favor of the invasion of America’s cities. Also remember Trump already has his sights on Chicago.

Video from May Day Events: (2 minutes)

Iowa City

Time

Monday, September 1

4 – 6pm CDT

Location

College Green Park

600 E College St

Iowa City, IA 52240

===================

Cedar Rapids

Time

Monday, September 1

11am – 3pm CDT

Location

Hawkeye Downs Speedway & Expo Center

4400 6th St SW

Cedar Rapids, IA 52404

=======================

Quad Cities

Time

Monday, September 1

11am – 1pm CDT

Location

JD Harvester Parking Lot ( parade begins here).

1100 13th Ave

East Moline, IL 61244

========================

Decorah

Time

Monday, September 1

1 – 2pm CDT

Location

Winneshiek County Courthouse

201 W Main St

Decorah, IA 52101

==============================

Spirit Lake

Time

Monday, September 1

11am – 12pm CDT

Location

Dickinson County Courthouse

1802 Hill Ave

Spirit Lake, IA 51360

===============================

Newton

Time

Monday, September 1

10am – 12pm CDT

Location

Jasper County Courthouse

101 1st St N

Newton, IA 50208

=============================

Indianola

Time

Friday, August 29

4 – 5pm CDT

Location

U.S. 69 & East Iowa Avenue

Indianola, IA 50125

============================

Des Moines

Time

Monday, September 1

10am – 12:30pm CDT

Location

Iowa State Capitol

1007 E Grand Ave

Des Moines, IA 50319

Ames

Time

Monday, September 1

10am – 1pm CDT

Location

Bandshell Park

125 E 5th St

Ames, IA 50010

=========================

Sioux City

Time

Monday, September 1

11am – 1pm CDT

Location

Riverside Park – Shelter #5

1301 Riverside Blvd

Sioux City, IA 51109

================================

Omaha / Council Bluffs

Time

Monday, September 1

10am – 1pm CDT

Location

16th and Cass street

16th and Cass street

Omaha, NE 68102

====================================

Omaha / Council Bluffs 2

Time

Monday, September 1

10am – 1pm CDT

Location

Parade route

North 16th Street & Capitol Avenue

16th to Capitol to 12th Street

Omaha, NE 68102

================================

Omaha / Council Bluffs 3

Time

Sunday, August 31

12 – 5pm CDT

Location

7117 Jones Cir

Omaha, NE 68106

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Electricity Today

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

There is a lot of chatter in the national news media about the price of electricity. We are apparently in a war with China over dominance in artificial intelligence, which requires a lot of electricity. National Public Radio reported, “Electricity prices are climbing more than twice as fast as inflation.” We don’t hear that so much here in Iowa except on national media. Why? According to Bill McKibben, “The average Iowan will spend 39% less on electricity than the average American because it produces 57 percent of its electricity from the wind, the second-biggest wind state in the country.” If you throw solar arrays, and other renewable energy into the mix, Iowa’s total share of renewables is 64 percent.

Spoiled as I am by normally low electricity rates, when last month’s electric bill arrived it was 51 percent higher than the same period last year. What the heck? Although the total amount of the bill was comparatively low — typical for Iowa — I had to look at it.

The price per kWh of electricity from our electric cooperative has been stable and predictable. It wasn’t a rate change that caused our increase. Our monthly usage increased from 429 kWh to 745 kWh. The average American household usage is much higher than that. The reason for higher costs was this increased usage.

What happened? The average temperature increased by four degrees year over year. We likely ran the air conditioner more because of it. It was also oppressively hot this July, which meant spending more time indoors and using more electricity with the washer, dryer, stove and our electronic devices. We also had a millennial house guest for an extended stay. They did online streaming from here with a multitude of electric devices which sucked more juice. In sum, the increase was explainable.

Why are people concerned about increasing electricity costs? Donald J. Trump is president. He does not seem well educated about electricity.

On Trump’s first day in office he declared an “energy emergency” for made up reasons. The unstated reason is he extorted oil, gas and coal companies. “Candidate Trump literally told the fossil fuel industry they could have anything they want if they gave massive contributions to his campaign, and then they did,” according to McKibben. Trump’s payback for the bribe was to hobble the renewable energy industry.

The Trump administration immediately began to do absolutely everything in its power to stop this trend (to develop more sun, wind, and batteries) and replace it with old-fashioned energy—gas, and coal. They have rescinded environmental regulations trying to control fossil fuel pollution, ended sun and wind projects on federal land, cancelled wind projects wherever they could, ended the IRA tax credits for clean energy construction and instead added subsidies for the coal industry. Again—short of tasking Elon Musk to erect a large space-based shield to blot out the sun, they’ve done literally everything possible to derail the transition to cheap clean energy. (Trump is shockingly dumb about (electric) energy, Bill McKibben on Substack).

More than ninety percent of new electric generation around the world last year came from clean energy. This was not because everyone in the energy business had “gone woke,” McKibben wrote. Texas, arguably the most un-woke place in the U.S., installed more renewable capacity than any other state last year. It was because you could do it cheaply and quickly—we live on a planet where the cheapest way to make power is to point a sheet of glass at the sun.

I don’t know what happened to Republicans. Senator Chuck Grassley used to be one of the big supporters of wind energy in Iowa because of the way wind turbine arrays meshed with farm operations, giving a farmer another revenue stream.

Under Trump we have taken a step backward and let China, Europe, and literally everyone else take the lead in developing the electricity of the future which taps power directly from the sun.

We can and must do better than this as we consider our energy future.

Posted in Environment | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Republican Blames Iowa Senate District 1 Loss On Kim Reynolds And Iowa GOP Policies

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A New Grassroots Politics

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com

If I had a nickel for every time someone said today’s Democrats need to get in the game, I’d be rich. The trouble is what do Democrats do differently to overcome the Republican advantage in Iowa?

Democrat Catelin Drey is the case that conventional Iowa political organizing can be effective. On Wednesday, after her 4,208-3,211 victory in Iowa State Senate District 1, that Trump won in 2024 by 11.5 percent, she enumerated what worked for her in an interview with Laura Belin and Zachary Oren Smith. In descending order, she said door-to-door contact, telephone contact, and person to person contact within their existing social networks helped identify her voters and get them to the polls. This is so old school, I remember my father doing it during the 1960 Kennedy campaign.

The special election environment helped. Governor Reynolds set the date for the special election to replace the late state senator Rocky De Witt on June 30 for Aug. 26, 57 days later. The short duration meant there was no time to wait for anything. The campaign ignited with energy. Volunteers, including multiple state senators and representatives, rallied immediately to help. Importantly, volunteers arrived from all over the state, contributing to knocking some 17,000 doors during the campaign, Drey said. She had plenty of volunteer help. Money wasn’t a problem either, enough so that Republican Party of Iowa chair Jeff Kaufmann complained about it.

Things might be different in a general election when folks can’t travel to the west side of the state because local races depend on their work at home. I expect Kaufmann will add this seat to his target list when it is up again next year. Drey seemed quite talented during the interview. Maybe she can pull off a 2026 re-election in a Trump district without all the statewide help. I hope so. Well done Catelin Drew!

I’m from Iowa so I am used to working hard for a candidate and then losing the election. I can think of some things Democrats need to change to turn the Republican advantage around.

Some history. When the worm started to turn on Republicans after the U.S. Supreme Court gave the 2000 election to George W. Bush, Democrats slowly began to change. When Bush won re-election in 2004, it was game on. In Iowa, we came back in 2006 by electing Democrat Chet Culver as governor and Dave Loebsack defeated long time Republican house member Jim Leach. The 2008 Iowa Democratic Caucuses had the most interest and biggest attendance I’ve seen in 32 years living here. As we all know, and may be weary of hearing, Barack Obama won Iowa and the nation in 2008. In 2012, Obama’s margins deteriorated yet he won Iowa again. In retrospect, 2008 was the high water mark of Democratic political activism in Iowa. Loebsack got elected to seven terms, but Culver turned out to be a one-term wonder and we haven’t had a Democratic governor since.

I love memories of the 2006-2008 campaigns but the electorate has changed. I would argue it changes at least every presidential cycle. Trump successively grew his vote count in Democratic Johnson County, Iowa during each of his three elections here. Recognizing such demographic changes is the first thing Democrats must change. Nothing stays the same. We should be like Catelin Drew and talk to everyone possible.

Marc Elias of Democracy Docket did Iowa Democrats no favors when he prosecuted Rita Hart’s 2020 six-vote house race loss in the Congress. When the Iowa Secretary of State certified the election, Hart should have accepted it, even though the path to appeal was there. Given the political climate at the time, the case was dead on arrival. NBC News reported, “Republicans sought to cast her litigation as Democratic hypocrisy for trying to undo a state certification of an election after Democrats criticized 138 Republicans for objecting to the Electoral College count on Jan. 6.” The place for Democrats to win elections is in voter contacts, not in courtrooms, or in the U.S. House.

Finally, Democrats should talk in terms of the voter’s interests. For Catelin Drew, this came naturally. Because childcare was an issue for her personally, it lent credibility in conversations where childcare was the voter’s concern. We can set aside all the verbiage about the whys and wherefores of needing childcare, like Rita Hart raised in an op-ed in the Solon Economist. Candidates seem better off sharing their authentic selves and empathizing with voters as best they can.

I think we need a better name for it than grassroots politics. The electorate has changed and is changing. Democrats need to find voters where they live: on the grass, on the internet, at work, at the grocer, and at the gym. We have done it before and we should get back to it. We need a change and that could be the change we need.

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Republicans And The Damage Done

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When I visited the Iowa legislature, one of the people I sought was Rep. Chuck Isenhart from Dubuque. Almost every bill regarding conservation, climate change, renewable energy, and water quality involved him in some way. We were sad to see him lose his last election. Since then, Isenhart has been staying active including writing about environmental issues on Substack.

Why would our national legislators back away from clean energy? Isenhart has some thoughts.

“Just because our gardens are growing cucumbers doesn’t mean we have to make pickles,” Isenhart wrote. “Backing away from clean energy while continuing to subsidize fossil fuels and mandate biofuels puts us in a pickle, making even the wildest dreams come true for those who advocate for an “all-of-the-above” energy future (meaning ‘don’t leave fossil fuels behind’).”

In an Aug. 18 post, Isenhart outlines the damage done to renewable energy programs by Republicans. He starts with his personal story of installing solar panels on his roof and what a good deal it was for him, the utility company, and the environment. The story arrives here:

So – good for consumers, good for business, good for workers, good for the environment. Win-win-win-win. Thus, good for government to keep promoting, no?

Ahhhhh, no. Iowa’s Congressional delegation voted unanimously to unravel most of the federal government’s support for clean energy. Your chance to use the incentive I did is fast running out.

The federal tax credit program for residential solar, wind, geothermal and battery storage now expires at the end of this year, not 2034 as originally planned.

Churches and non-profits with big energy bills can also still get in on the deal through the Elective Pay program with the up-front help of donors who like to see tangible returns on investment like this church.

In related news, Iowa’s congressional representatives Ernst, Grassley, Hinson, Miller-Meeks, Nunn, Feenstra also eliminated the energy efficient home improvement credit (December 31), the new energy efficient home credit (June 30, 2026) and the energy efficient commercial buildings deduction for property construction that begins after June 30, 2026. All of these serve to reduce energy consumption and climate impact. (The Sun Also Sets by Chuck Isenhart on Substack).

We may know how bad Republicans are with advances in renewable energy and the environment. Isenhart lays it out with specifics. Read his entire post here.

Posted in Environment | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

AFGE Solidarity Picket On Aug. 27

Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

Join the Solidarity Picket Line!

The VA announced it ceased to recognize the union contract. This action is illegal.  The VA took this action because the union has successfully stopped attacks on federal workers, and they hope to break the union. They have been evicted from their offices and members are being denied representation.

“We will not surrender,” AFGE Local 2547 president Patrick Kearns said. “We fought and won against the last Trump administration, and we will win again.”

“Our strength comes from our members and the labor movement,” Kearns continued. “A contract is a piece of paper and means nothing without the labor movement standing to defend our rights.We ask everyone to come out and support us. We must stand up and fight back.”

Here is the press release:

Save Our VA: Wednesday Picket to Protest Attacks on VA Health Care

VA health care workers, veterans, labor unions, and community supporters will hold a solidarity picket Wednesday, August 27th outside the Iowa City VA Medical Center to protest escalating Trump administration attacks on VA care, VA employees, and their union.

WHAT: “Save Our VA” Community Solidarity Picket

WHEN:  3:30-5:15, Wednesday, August 27

WHERE: VA Medical Center, 601 HWY 6 West, Iowa City

WHO:     VA health care members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2547, veterans and families, labor unions, and community supporters

Federal employees have faced months of Trump administration attacks at the VA and other federal agencies, including illegal mass firings, arbitrary hiring freezes, and reckless termination of thousands of probationary employees in already understaffed facilities. Now the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has announced immediate termination of all union contracts with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) which has for decades protected the rights and working conditions of VA health care workers in Iowa City and across the country.

AFGE members have strongly opposed proposals to cut thousands of VA staff or diminish VA standards of care, and this year have challenged many Trump administration actions in court. In retaliation, Trump and VA Secretary Douglas Collins are moving to attack AFGE directly, trying to strip workers of their union contracts, their voice, and their collective defense of VA care.  In their attacks on AFGE, the President and Secretary Collins specifically cite the union’s successful fight against unlawful actions of the Trump administration and the VA Secretary.

AFGE 2547 will picket locally in Iowa CIty to oppose the actions of VA Secretary Collins and publicize the following statement of principles and demands: 

·        AFGE and our members believe the VA must be accountable to the people and carry out its mission with dedication. VA has delivered the highest quality care of any healthcare system, private or public, with lower costs and highest satisfaction ratings of any healthcare provider in America.

·        We demand that Secretary Collins stop the destructive hiring freeze that is negatively affecting the delivery of care in the VA system and cease his attacks on dedicated VA workers who believe in the mission of VA and want to deliver the best care possible.

·        We demand that Secretary Collins reverse his unlawful orders regarding our union rights.

·        We demand Congress—including our HD-1 Representative Marianette Miller-Meeks and Iowa Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley—take action to protect veterans’ health care and the rights of federal workers, starting with signing on to HR 2550, theProtect America’s Workforce Act to restore federal workers’ bargaining rights. Our Iowa Congressional delegation has remained shamefully silent about attacks on VA workers and patients, and has done nothing to ensure the VA is not dismantled.

Iowa City VA workers report that hiring freezes have already resulted in loss of RN, physician, and patient care staff positions, impacting the medical center’s ability to function. Staff are being moved from one position to another or often working two positions, putting patient and staff safety at risk. Unfilled vacancies currently exist in every area of the hospital.

As VA nurse Patrick Kearns, RN, and President of AFGE local 2547 put it, “Our patients get the best care when we can deliver that care safely and advocate for our patients. The union is there to speak truth to power. Healthcare is too important to be treated as political spoils for private interests. It seems that Secretary Collins’ goal is to make VA fail and convert taxpayer dollars to private profit.”

If you can’t be there in person, contact our federal elected officials. A contract is a contract. The government must honor it.

Contact Information for Our Senators and U.S House Representative

Chuck Grassley- Cedar Rapids office – (319) 363-6832 Washington D.C. office – (202) 224-3744 – Email

Joni Ernst – Cedar Rapids office – (319) 365-4504 Washington D.C. office – (202) 224-3254 – Email

Mariannette Miller-Meeks – Davenport office – (563) 232-0930 Washington D.C. office -(202) 225-6576 – Email

Please remember to show staff members who answer kindness when you are speaking to them.

Hope to see you at the VA on Wednesday.

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What About Our Stuff?

Detail of the Centennial Building at 402 Iowa Avenue, Iowa City, Iowa. Photo Credit – The Daily Iowan.

The decision to close the Iowa Historical Society Research Center in Iowa City has been made. On Saturday, Aug. 23, I participated in a rally to reverse the decision in a packed room at the Iowa City Public Library. The main ask from the event organizers and from State Representative Adam Zabner, who represents the district where the building is located, was to sign the online petition to reverse the decision. Click here to sign the petition. There was more.

My takeaway is the decision to close the facility is pure amateurism. Archaeologist and historic preservationist Kathy Gourley questioned whether the dire financial picture the state reported is true. She presented information about negotiations with the state legislature last session to secure an additional $1 million in funding for the center. While the legislature only provided a half million, that is not chump change at the historical society. The main thrust of this decision was that “your history” doesn’t matter.

Jonathan Buffalo, historian and director of the Meskwaki Historical Preservation Department told friends, relatives and neighbors about the proposed closure. They replied, “What about our stuff?” The Meskwaki house a collection of early photographs at the Research Center. We might all ask the same question. Communication about the closure was a surprise to almost everyone who read or heard the news. There appears to be only the vaguest of plans for the move. A lack of transparency runs throughout.

Here’s the rub. The state archivist is not following professional procedures for closing a facility like this. Donors gave consideration to what items they may have donated to the State Historical Society. Part of the deal was the artifacts would be cared for in perpetuity. Instead of assuring the public that any change would meet this obligation, it’s been like, “Let’s go to Walmart and get us some plastic bags to haul what we don’t like to the landfill.” It is amateur hour.

Rebecca Conard, native Iowan and historian at Middle Tennessee University outlined some of those professional procedures during the rally. Things like looking at the Iowa collections as a whole and then making a transparent, public decision on what to do with items that are less relevant today than they were when donated.

What about our stuff? Will it go to a warehouse? Will it be discarded? There have been no good answers. If the state had considered the public impact of closing the Iowa City Research Center, they would have researched and provided some of the answers when they announced the change. They apparently didn’t. This made a difference that, in part, created the social anxiety on display at the Iowa City Public Library on Saturday.

Valued collections live in that building today. What will happen to archives of Meskwaki photographs, the Iowa Musicians Project, pioneer diaries, manuscripts, and the rest of the materials? Let’s hope they are not rendered into oblivion either by tucking them away on a shelf in a Des Moines warehouse or by discarding.

To learn more, read Trish Nelson’s backgrounder on the issue here.

Sign the online petition to reverse the decision to close the Iowa Historical Society Research Center at the Centennial Building click here.

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Target Dumps DEI, Pays Dearly

Target decided to embrace the Trump ideology and forsake DEI. Wisdom on the street says everything Trump touches dies. Now it is Target’s turn to prove the truth of that nugget. About a year ago Target decided to forsake getting LGBTQ customers. Those decisions can be traced directly to their results:

9 minutes: (also includes discussion of the effects of tariffs)

We could go into a long discussion of Target policies but I think there is a much bigger lesson to be learned here. Are you listening? Here we go:

VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLARS!!!

In this case, when Target decided to abandon their DEI policies, black people in general (and many sympathizers) decided enough was enough. Actually many were already avoiding Target due to their LGBTQ policies and this just cemented that choice. 

While it is hard to avoid the big retailers in this country who have lined up with the far right, it is possible. Our family avoids Target, Walmart and Amazon as much as possible. We still shop at Costco. They have continued pro-worker, pro customer policies as far as I know. I honestly have not been in a Target in years. I think I was in Walmart once last year.

We do not know what Target will do in response to their loss of customers and revenue. Their CEO is already out of work. Will the next one learn the lesson or will Target double down on bad policy to please the Felon In the White House?

Whatever Target decides, the main lesson here is that people acting together can effectuate change. As we go deeper and deeper into Trump and the MAGAs trying to end our democracy, we need to remember that we can resist and we can win!

As this happens axios.com discovered last week that Trump has a “loyalty scorecard” that lists 553 American corporations based on their support of Trump’s policies. Reported by Axios  and summarized by Forbes here are some of the key facts about Trump’s loyalty list:

KEY FACTS

  • The White House confirmed to Forbes an Axios report that the West Wing created a scorecard rating 553 companies on how strongly they have supported President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” seemingly allowing the White House to quickly gauge how they will approach future conversations or interactions with the listed companies.
  • The White House official told Forbes the dynamic scorecards “incorporate the support of present and future administration initiatives.”
  • In addition to considering companies’ support of Trump’s agenda, the scorecards also take into account companies’ social media posts, press releases, video testimonials, advertisements and attendance at White House events, Axios reported, noting companies’ support is ranked as strong, moderate or low.
  • Axios cited as examples of “good” partners United, Delta, Uber, DoorDash, AT&T, Cisco, Airlines for America and the Steel Manufacturers Association.
  • An unnamed White House staffer told Axios the scorecards help “us see who really goes out and helps vs. those who just come in and pay lip service,” adding the gradings can change if “companies want to start advocating more now for the tax bill or additional administration priorities.”

Given the loyalty list versus the customer boycott it looks like Target (and I hope others) have put themselves in between a rock and another rock.

It is also interesting that Trump is taking stock from companies supposedly in the name of the country. He has taken a “golden share” in United Steel (or Nippon Steel). They seem to be in talks with Intel about taking over 10% of that companies stock. The US government will also get a cut of chip sales from Nvidia and AMD to China. This doesn’t exactly sound like capitalism.

Makes you wonder if Trump will somehow make those corporate “gifts” end up in his pocket? I sure wonder what is going on. Sure sounds corrupt. 

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